In the islands, they call it break bone fever, and for obvious reasons.

Now that health officials have reported for the first time mosquitoes in Florida are spreading chikungunya, a virus that has been tearing through the Caribbean, local officials are starting to take notice.

“Now we own this problem,” Dr. Eddie Fleming of St. Augustine wrote to St. Johns County Commissioners on Monday. “The disease, for which there is no vaccine and no known cure, can cause high fever, severe joint pain that commonly involves the hands and feet, joint swelling, back pain and a rash that starts 2-5 days after the fever begins.”

Dr. Rui-De Xue, director of the Anastastia Mosquito Control District returned from a trip to Japan on Tuesday but knew of the state and federal published findings before he got off the plane.

“Everything is good here,” Dr. Xue said Wednesday. “But this new information should be beneficial for education purposes.”

Many of the present and hopeful members of the AMCD echoed Xue’s statement.

“After all this rain we have had, I think it is time to step it up,” said former St. Augustine Beach Mayor Ed George, who will be on the ballot for a seat on the Anastasia Mosquito Control District (AMCD) in November.

In a news release Wednesday, Catherine Brandhorst, chair of the AMCD said St. Johns County has not had a human mosquito-borne illness since 2003.

“Working together, that will not change,” Brandhorst said.

This is how scientists believe it works: A person infected with the chikungunya virus (perhaps unknowingly because symptoms take a while to develop), returns from the Caribbean and is bitten by an uninfected mosquito in Florida, then that mosquito bites and infects other local victims.

“When it is raining everyday like it has been lately people are growing their own mosquitoes,” Brandhorst said. “You have to have a preventative approach rather than a reactive one.”

Xue said that while people have returned to St. Johns County suffering from many diseases including dengue fever, which is similar to chikungunya and even malaria, those maladies are rarely spread by mosquitoes.

In Jacksonville, residents have not been so lucky. Two years ago 19 mosquito-born diseases were reported in Duval County, although there have been no reported mosquito-borne illness reported this year.

“As the county continues to grow, there will be an exponential risk to disease,” current AMCD Commissioner Jeanne Moeller said this week. “We need to work at modifying resident behavior, because if we don’t it could cost millions to clean up the mess.”

That means being vigilant about draining standing water from garbage cans and gutters, discarding old tires, emptying birdbaths and making sure tarps don’t accumulate water, Xue said.

“No water, no mosquitoes,” it can be that simple, Xue said.

So far two people in Florida have confirmed domestically-acquired chikungunaya infections officials announced last week. While state officials said there is “no broad risk,” federal officials made note of the unfortunate milestone.

“The arrival of chikungunya virus, first in the tropical Americas and now in the United States, underscores the risks posed by this and other exotic pathogens,” said Roger Nacsi of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in a prepared statement.

State Department of Health officials said the infected Floridians were a 41-year-old Miami woman who began experiencing symptoms on June 10, and a 50-year old Palm Beach County man who was diagnosed on July 1.

In the Caribbean chikungunya is often confused with dengue fever, because of the severe bone pain associated with the mosquito carried disease. CDC officials said now that chikungunya is confirmed in the United States, it will probably behave like the dengue virus with imported cases causing occasional local transmissions but not widespread outbreaks.

While we are in much better shape in Florida than the Caribbean in respects to mosquito carried diseases, residents here have not developed a resistance to the disease, so they need to be cautious, Dr. Xue said.

He said it is a good idea to fix screens and wear long pants and shirts when doing maintenance around the house.

“Our population is sensitive,” Dr. Xue said.

A brief fact from the St. Augustine Historical Society published recently points out that this is not a new concern in the Ancient City. Exactly 273 years ago Wednesday, City Council quarantined the steamboat Cincinnati, which was reported to have arrived with infected passengers.

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Like the Spanish influenza and the yellow fever of many years ago this new mosquito-borne disease could slow the influx of visitors until the cooler months. The much dreaded zactlys is also rearing it's ugly head among some unfortunate residents. Extreme caution when mingling with touri might be recommended and if the zactlys is suspected an immediate diagnosis may not really be desired as there is no known cure for that affliction and the infected person may not want a diagnosis since it is always survivable. As always, just my humble opinion which I have no desire to support with "documentation" or "citations".